Systems and methods for performing digital holography

Abstract

In one embodiment, a system and method for performing single-shot digital holography include an optical hybrid assembly configured to receive a reference beam from a light source and another beam, and a balanced detector comprising multiple sensor arrays that are configured to receive outputs of the optical hybrid assembly and simultaneously measure in-phase and quadrature components of an incoming light wavefront that results from interference between the reference beam and the other beam within the optical hybrid assembly to provide a full set of digital holograms in a single exposure.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A system for performing single-shot digital holography, the system comprising:
 an optical hybrid assembly configured to receive a reference beam from a light source and another beam; and 
 a balanced detector comprising multiple sensor arrays that are configured to receive outputs of the optical hybrid assembly and simultaneously measure in-phase and quadrature components of an incoming light wavefront that results from interference between the reference beam and the other beam within the optical hybrid assembly to provide a full set of digital holograms in a single exposure. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the other beam is an object beam from a target object. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the other beam is a distorted beam that results after the reference beam passes through a distorting medium. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 3 , wherein the distorting medium is an amplifier. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the optical hybrid assembly is a 90-degree optical hybrid assembly. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 5 , wherein the 90-degree optical hybrid assembly comprises a half mirror configured to reflect and to transmit a portion of each of the reference beam and the other beam. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 6 , wherein the 90-degree optical hybrid assembly further comprises two polarization beam splitters configured to adjust the polarization of the reference beam and the other beam by approximately 45 degrees. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the 90-degree optical hybrid assembly further comprises a quarter-wave plate configured to shift the relative phase of parallel and perpendicular components of the reference beam by approximately 90 degrees. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the balanced detector comprises four sensor arrays, two of the sensor arrays configured to receive a real part of the wavefront and the other two sensor arrays configured to receive an imaginary part of the wavefront. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9 , wherein the sensor arrays are charged-couple device (CCD) sensor arrays. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising an electronic phase conjugator configured to perform electronic phase conjugation on the measured wavefront components to obtain the complex conjugate of the wavefront. 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 11 , further comprising a spatial light modulator configured to receive the complex conjugate of the wavefront from the electronic phase conjugator and modulate a further beam with the complex conjugate. 
     
     
       13. A method for performing digital holography, the method comprising:
 receiving a reference beam from a light source and another beam; 
 interfering the reference beam and the other beam to generate an interference wavefront and separating the wavefront into its in-phase and quadrature components; and 
 simultaneously measuring the in-phase and quadrature components of the wavefront to obtain a full set of digital holograms in a single exposure. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13 , wherein the other beam is an object beam from a target object. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 13 , wherein the other beam is a distorted beam that results after the reference beam passes through a distorting medium. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the distorting medium is an amplifier. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 13 , wherein the interfering and separating is performed by a 90-degree optical hybrid assembly. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein the 90-degree optical hybrid assembly comprises a half mirror configured to reflect and to transmit a portion of each of the reference beam and the other beam, two polarization beam splitters configured to adjust the polarization of the reference beam and the other beam by approximately 45 degrees, and a quarter-wave plate configured to shift the relative phase of parallel and perpendicular components of the reference beam by approximately 90 degrees. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 13 , wherein simultaneously measuring comprises simultaneously measuring the in-phase and quadrature components with four sensor arrays with two of the sensor arrays measuring a real part of the wavefront and the other two sensor arrays measuring an imaginary part of the wavefront. 
     
     
       20. A method for performing backward light propagation, the method comprising:
 receiving a reference beam from a light source and an object beam from a target object; 
 interfering the reference beam and the object beam to generate an interference wavefront and separating the wavefront into its in-phase and quadrature components; 
 simultaneously measuring the in-phase and quadrature components of the wavefront to obtain a full set of digital holograms in a single exposure; and 
 performing electronic phase conjugation on the measured wavefront components to obtain the complex conjugate of the wavefront. 
 
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 20 , wherein the interfering and separating is performed by a 90-degree optical hybrid assembly. 
     
     
       22. The method of  claim 21 , wherein the 90-degree optical hybrid assembly comprises a half mirror configured to reflect and to transmit a portion of each of the reference beam and the object beam, two polarization beam splitters configured to adjust the polarization of the reference beam and the object beam by approximately 45 degrees, and a quarter-wave plate configured to shift the relative phase of parallel and perpendicular components of the reference beam by approximately 90 degrees. 
     
     
       23. The method of  claim 20 , wherein simultaneously measuring comprises simultaneously measuring the in-phase and quadrature components with four sensor arrays with two of the sensor arrays measuring a real part of the wavefront and the other two sensor arrays measuring an imaginary part of the wavefront. 
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 20 , further comprising modulating a further beam with the complex conjugate of the wavefront so that the further beam propagates backward along a path of the object beam back to the object. 
     
     
       25. The method of  claim 24 , wherein the object is one or more cells within biological tissue that have been tagged with a fluorescent dye and wherein the further beam is a high power therapeutic beam adapted to kill the cells.